Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Synopsis

The Autobots Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide and Sideswipe led by Optimus Prime, are back in action, taking on the evil Decepticons. Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky too. When a mysterious event from Earth's past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us.

The Transformers franchise is a box-office powerhouse, having collectively made billions. Yet, it’s a different story when it comes to deep narratives that stand the test of time. Thus, the studio has corralled a number of prominent writers from the world of television with designs to ensure that this insanely profitable IP continues its world-wrecking ways at the box-office.

The folks behind Transformers have spent the last few weeks assembling a writing team that will guide the franchise into the future, and while there are already some big names involved, today the group got just a little bit bigger.

Michael Bay produces the Transformers movies. He also produces the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. It was really only a matter of time before he used one to give himself a pat on the back for the other.

Transformers is on the verge of a major shift. The era of Michael Bay-directed movies in the franchise ended with Transformers: Age of Extinction, but a new era has begun, and it’s being ushered in by a large brain trust of both experienced and up-and-coming writers.

The Transformers film franchise continues to chug along nicely behind the scenes with Paramount Pictures and Hasbro Toys collectively planning to up an ante that’s already in the billions. However, it seems that one of those plans could involve a spinoff movie focusing on one key Autobot in Bumblebee. Could the yellow, voice-sampling VW-turned Camaro carry a movie on his own?

Michael Bay’s Transformers film franchise is a crushing colossus that callously walks across box-office surfaces to the sound of trembling Earth as it smashes its competition to bits. Yet, the only real takeaway from the films is that they break the world to bits in each entry. Now, thanks to this hilarious supercut, we get to see an array of our favorite films suffer their wrath!

It is being reported that Paramount Pictures has big plans for the future of its Transformers film franchise in the form of multi-part sequel films to the already-enduring series of movies. Yeah, that’s right, the cinematic world is not quite done with the frenetic, destructive, product-placing world in which Autobots and Decepticons turn our cities into their personal Thunderdome.

Michael Bay will definitely not be returning to the Transformers franchise for a fifth film after it was revealed that he will direct 13 Hours instead. Will Michael Bay finally deliver a nuanced, subtle movie rather that a bombastic blockbuster though?

Since trade embargoes have loosened between China and America, it's resulted in a flood of Hollywood product reaching their shores, when earlier it was only a select few movies that would arrive in China, following heavy government censure.

It's almost as if he's throwing shade at other franchises for their crossovers, subtly implying they've run out of stories. Pretty disingenuous considering we're dealing with properties based on toys: to say the four Transformers films actually have stories is like saying Mark Wahlberg would make a convincing Texan.

Hey, remember when Michael Bay gave the Transformers franchise a facelift, and the fourth installment opened to a jaw-dropping $100 million during its first weekend? Probably. That just happened this past weekend, but if executives from the studios not named Paramount Pictures are to be believed, it didn’t actually happen at all.

In today's Monday Movie Memo, I argue that the only way for Michael Bay to save the Transformers franchise is to hand it off to a different director for the series can benefit from an infusion of fresh blood.

While the 1990's were THE era of the film driven single/soundtrack, the practice has kept itself alive in the niche of teen driven franchises. Outside of that domain, Michael Bay is one of the remaining purveyors of the music tie in, and he excels by keeping up with modern musical tastes. So naturally, he replaced previous partner Linkin Park with a fresh band that's sitting on top of the world: Imagine Dragons. The result of this pairing is more epic than you could dream of.

Transformers: Age of Extinction is a pretty awesome title for a movie, as it promises a lot in just four small words. Transformers: Lost Age is yet another really cool way to name a movie with mechanical creatures that time forgot. Either way, the movie is promising stacks of fun and explosions, and either way audiences worldwide are going to show up. So why then is there two different trailers, with two different titles, showing most of the same footage? PRIIIME!

But where do they go without Michael Bay? Surely he couldn't be coming back for a fifth film, right? The guy makes, literally, hundreds of millions on these films by shooting them in his signature kinetic style, securing licensing and merchandising funding, and getting these pictures wrapped under-budget and ahead of schedule.

I’ll be very excited to see what Bay has to show. We know next to nothing about this sequel, as it’s a departure from the trilogy Bay helped launch back in 2007. No Shia LaBeouf. No Megan Fox. No John Turturro getting “urinated” on by an Autobot.

Actually, assault-with-a-deadly-air-conditioner sounds like a perfect tactic in a Michael Bay movie like Pain & Gain or Bad Boys II, but it was an unplanned part of his real life on the set of Transformers: Age of Extinction, which is currently filming in Hong Kong

Whether you love or loathe the director behind such unapologetic action spectacles as Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon and the Transformers threequel, can you help but smile at the sheer joy this moviemaker gets at blowing shit up for the sake of cinema?

The next Transformers movie is currently filming in China, in part, because they’ve run out of things to destroy in America, and in larger part because there’s a lot of money to be made there. What’s surprising is that not only are they shooting there, apparently the movie’s going to be sort of about China too.

Michael Bay has been slowly but surely teasing glimpses of the pre-transformed Transformers 4 automobiles for our viewing pleasure. Car enthusiasts and Transformers fans alike were given the opportunity to look at Bumblebee (a highly-modified vintage 1967 Camaro SS), Optimus Prime covered in flames, and two of the new characters (a Bugatti Grand Sport Vitesse and a C7 Corvette Stingray). And today Bay has given us another new look.

Really, from grill to hood to headlights to flame design, everything about the new truck is updated and flashier, trading edges for a more rounded look. I’m just assuming the other side of the cam isn’t painted green and orange.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the new Shia LaBeouf! OK, not exactly, but Michael Bay has confirmed on his blog that young actor Jack Reynor has been cast to act opposite Mark Wahlberg in the upcoming Transformers 4.

On some level, sure, Michael Bay is right-- actors have pretty cushy jobs, and any complaining they do ought to be taken with a massive grain of salt and recognition that they're doing OK. But that's not really what Weaving was doing here. He was stating some basic facts about a voiceover job that didn't challenge him that much and wasn't that meaningful

Wait, doesn’t the military regularly consult with Michael Bay on the Transformers films? So the idea of a Decepticon being buried on the moon is more plausible then the comic-inspired mayhem in Whedon’s film?

As you can tell it's still far, far too early to speculate on the story for a new film, or even which stars would be back for a new film-- though I'm guessing that the franchise is as finished with Shia LaBeouf as he seems with them, so I'd at least count on a new lead

Yes, that is in fact an ad for a theme park ride, specifically "Transformers The Ride 3D," which bows at Universal Studios Hollywood in May. When the full spot airs during the Super Bowl it will point you to the website Prepare For Battle, which hosts another video, this one looking a whole lot like the video you'll watch when waiting in line for the ride at Universal Studios

I'm no fan of Michael Bay's Transformers movies. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I'm an opponent of Michael Bay's Transformers movies, sent back from the future to prevent mankind's destruction via rock-stupid summer blockbusters. Still, while I may decry the Transformers films for dry-humping the lowest common denominator, there's no question that they're damned impressive from a visual standpoint.

Everything from that opening text-- "From Hasbro, the company that brought you Transformers"-- to the metallic booming effects to the little ball alien that throws out a tentacle and rips through a plane feels so, so much like a Transformers movie. Then there's Brooklyn Decker as your random hottie

The people have voted and the nominations for People’s Choice Awards 2012 are in. Unsurprisingly, movie fans love Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Transformers. And while Bridesmaids was recognized in numerous categories, the people seem to have disregarded Melissa McCarthy in the Favorite Female Comedy Actress.

The studio is apparently thinking of replacing him with Jason Statham, which is hilarious, but there's no offer yet so don't get your hopes up. And even though LaBeouf is out, Michael Bay hasn't quite let go of the dream-- sources say that Bay might stick around as an executive producer (which we knew) as well as a director

You know what Michael Bay is not? An idiot. And therefore it's no real surprise to hear from Hasbro that they are in active discussions with Paramount, Bay and Steven Spielberg to make a fourth Transformers movie. Of course, Bay is probably only involved in this as a producer, but thats still probably fine with him-- he doesn't just get a cut of the movies that succeed

Countless reviewers are falling back on various iterations of “Rocky with Robots” in their critiques. And while that’s accurate, it also misses the other movies Levy … well, I don’t want to say steals from, simply because Steel already is in the film’s title. Let’s say “borrows” from, so as not to point fingers

Aside from the fact that Murphy seems weirdly hostile to the Transformers fans who have made his movies a success, this all makes sense. LaBeouf I think we could all pretty much take or leave, so long as Optimus Prime sticks around, but it's hard to imagine the Transformers franchise without the mad talents of Michael Bay

What could Bay possibly have left on the cutting room floor? Well, lots, if Dark of the Moon leading man Shia LaBeouf is to be believed. The actor, who has filmed three Transformers films back-to-back, tells MTV News that the upcoming DVD release for the sequel will have boatloads of extra scenes.

Was the action everything you wanted it to be? How was Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as a replacement for Megan Fox? Was Shia LaBeouf at least a little less annoying this time? Were you able to follow this plot better than Revenge of the Fallen? How good was the 3D? Were you upset Sam's mom didn't have anymore pot brownies? How many times did you have to run to the bathroom over the course of the 157 minute runtime?

The Island does a lot of things wrong, but one of the things it did right was a pretty spectacular freeway chase sequence involving massive car crashes and bouncing debris. Transformers: Dark of the Moon contains a similarly impressive highway scene but, oh wait, it’s not just similar it’s the same scene.

To no one’s surprise, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is already blowing up at the box. The third entry in Michael Bay’s Transformers has only been out for a day, and it has already earned $37.3 at the Stateside box office. That number is big enough to give it the sixth highest grossing opening Wednesday of all time.

When it came down to casting Fox’s replacement, he was hoping Bay would have gone in the opposite direction and hired someone “more bookish” for the role of his Transformers love interest. Shia, have you ever seen a Michael Bay movie?

Whatever Bay does next it seems certain that it won’t be another Transformers movie. No matter how much money Dark of the Moon makes it seems clear that everyone involved is getting a little tired of doing them. Shia LaBeouf has already confirmed that he won’t be back and while Bay hasn’t exactly ruled out another one

The once-respected character actor best known for collaborating with the likes of Spike Lee and the Coen brothers apparently has spent so much time on Bay’s inane Transformers franchise that he’s now convinced everything needs a sequel or a spin-off